2005 DEWN Pinot Noir normale

$40 per bottle / $432 per case
$34 per bottle / $384 per case (Members)

Library Release

We recently unearthed, lurking in a corner of our library holdings, a couple of dozen cases of this 2005 Pinot noir normale, a wine originally sent to the DEWN wine club. The wine is truly a revelation, a true Pinot—with all of Pinot's attendant complexities, ironies, mysteries, and satisfactions.

On tasting, Randall wrote the following about this wine:

"In all honesty, this is not quite the Pinot noir I've always dreamed of producing—it's far more muscular than my idealized "type"—which would be an older de Vogüé Musigny out of magnum, if you must know. But this wine represents an extraordinary achievement. It is incontrovertibly a Member of the Tribe; it is a proper Pinot, the Essence of Pinot. Il se pinot.[1]

"The Essence of Pinot is that it's absolutely an agricultural product. Proper Pinot tastes of dirt, like raw beets—a confusing mix of sweetness, earthiness, wildness. There is tension between seemingly opposite elements: raspberries against a certain sort of steeliness. In the nose, there is the suggestion of Griotte cherry, some licorice, but also a bit of savory bouillon. In the mouth, the wine is nervy; there is acid. It's all here.

"It would be beyond banal (not to mention utterly ironic) for me to suggest this wine is truly 'Burgundian.' But this is the most 'Burgundian' Pinot noir I've ever made—heck, this is the most Burgundian Pinot noir I've ever tasted out of California. Maybe it's the limestone from this special vineyard in Cienega Valley. Maybe the cool vintage. Maybe it's just the universe's way of having a slightly ironic moment with me. What I'm certain of is that this wine is still very young, and—like proper Pinot—will continue to surprise and amaze me for many years to come."

Varietal: 100% pinot noir
Appellation: San Bento County
Vineyard: Gemelli
Alcohol by Volume: 12.8%

Extremely limited supply.

---

[1] Not so easy to translate, but “it pinots” might be a good place to start; i.e., it embodies the very essence of this strange grape.